Establish a business to increase digital awareness

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Empowering Business To Go Digital

The Empowering Business to Go Digital program will provide a single grant of up to $3 million in total to support a non-government organisation – either existing or new - to build and enhance small business digital capability and to address issues raised in the Small Business Digital Taskforce report.

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What do you get?

A one-time grant of up to $3 million in matched funding.

Who is this for?

Australian incorporated entities with an ABN and a desire to increase digital awareness.

Overview

The Empowering Business to Go Digital program will provide a single grant of up to $3 million to support the establishment of a non-government organisation to build and enhance small business digital capability and to address issues raised in the Small Business Digital Taskforce report. The program will run from 2019-20 to 2021-22.

The objectives of the program are to:

establish a financially self-sustaining non-government organisation (NGO), or leverage an existing NGO, to increase small business awareness and adoption of digital technology, in line with the recommendations of the Small Business Digital Taskforce Report

establish a website that will draw together existing digital resources from across government and the private sector, providing a one-stop-shop in empowering a digitised society

improve information sharing between businesses, government, industry associations and the small business commissioners.

The intended outcomes of the program are:

increased accessibility of small business digital information

increase small business awareness and adoption of digital technology

improved small business digital capability and productivity.

Eligibility

What are the eligibility criteria?

To be eligible you must:

have an Australian Business Number (ABN)

be an entity, incorporated in Australia

Joint applications are acceptable, provided you have a lead organisation who is the main driver of the project and is eligible to apply.

We can only accept applications where:

you can provide evidence from your board (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board) that the project is supported, and that you can complete the project and meet the costs of the project not covered by grant funding

you can provide evidence of any funding contributions from other organisations, if applicable; and

You must be a non-government organisation; or agree to establish a non-government organisation, prior to entering into a grant agreement. You must have an industry-led governance model and include small business representatives on the board.

Not eligible

You are not eligible to apply if you are:

an individual

a Commonwealth, State, Territory or local government body (including government business enterprises).

Applying

How do you apply?

The Empowering Business to Go Digital grant is currently closed to applications.

You are responsible for making sure your application is complete and accurate. Giving false or misleading information is a serious offence under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth). If we consider that you have provided false or misleading information we may not progress your application. If you find an error in your application after submitting it, you should call us immediately on 13 28 46.

How we assess applications

We first review your application against the eligibility criteria. If eligible, we will then assess it against the assessment criteria. Only eligible applications will proceed to the assessment stage.

We will establish a committee (the committee) which may be comprised of Commonwealth government agency representatives and/or external experts to assess applications. The committee may also seek additional advice from independent technical experts.

The committee will consider your application on its merits, based on:

how well it meets the criteria

whether it provides value with relevant money

When assessing whether the application represents value with relevant money, we will have regard to:

the overall objectives of the grant opportunity

the evidence provided to demonstrate how your project contributes to meeting those objectives

the relative value of the grant sought.

To recommend an application for funding it must score highly against each assessment criterion. The evidence you provide to support your application should be proportional to the size and complexity of your project.

The Program Delegate (who is an AusIndustry manager within the department with responsibility for the program) decides which grants to approve taking into account the recommendations of the committee and availability of grant funds.

The Program Delegate’s decision is final in all matters.

How we assess applications

To be competitive, you will need to address all assessment criteria in your application. All assessment criteria are of equal weighting.

Assessment Criterion 1

Alignment with policy intent (50 points)

You should demonstrate this by identifying:

how your existing NGO will increase small business awareness and adoption of digital technology in line with the recommendations of the Small Business Digital Taskforce Report, or how you will establish a financially self-sustaining NGO which will increase small business awareness and adoption of digital technology in line with the recommendations of the Small Business Digital Taskforce Report

how you will establish a website that will draw together existing digital resources from across government and the private sector, providing a one-stop-shop in empowering a digitised society

how you will improve information sharing between businesses, government, industry associations and the small business commissioners.

Assessment Criterion 2

Capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (50 points)

You should demonstrate this by identifying:

Your project plan to manage the project, including scope, implementation methodology, timeframes, budget, risks and how you will measure the success of the project

your access to appropriately skilled and experienced personnel, including people with technical skills relevant to this area.

What happens next

If you are successful, we'll email you an offer for funding. We'll also include any specific conditions attached to the grant.

The successful applicant must:

enter into a grant agreement with the Commonwealth

agree to specific reporting requirements

agree to a payment schedule and milestones necessary to receive payment

We will make payments:

according to an agreed schedule set out in the grant agreement

as per satisfactory progress on the project

by direct credit into a nominated bank account

We will also set aside 5% of the total grant funding for the final payment. We will pay this when you submit a satisfactory end of project report. This report will need to demonstrate that you have completed outstanding obligations for the project.

If you are unsuccessful, we will email you and give you the opportunity to discuss the outcome with us.

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